Northern San Juan
AvalancheAnonymous · Feb 18, 2022 · Northern San Juan
Weather
Sunny
Snowpack
New/old snow interface Wind loaded from previous storm
Avalanche
Group of 3 skiers skinned up Hollywood. Skier 1 skinned up sub ridge to look at another aspect as skiers 2/3 stayed lower and remained in Hollywood. We suspected there was a wind slab on the SW side of the ridge that skier 1 was on. After skiers 2/3 went to a safe spot on a knob there was a small(~50’) traverse from the sub ridge to the knob that skiers 2/3 were on. The slope at the traverse was about 29 degrees(per iPhone app). As skier 1 began the traverse multiple small settlements occurred and the slope released about 150’ above(guessing the slope was upper 30 degrees at the crownw). Skier 1 was not caught/carried and reached the knob as the slide continued to slowly move downhill and stopped ~50’ below the traverse. The crown was 8-10” deep and about 75’ wide and ran about 200’. The debris pile was 2 1/2-3’ deep. There wasn’t a lot of energy in the slide but I could knocked you off your feet.